So this post will be much shorter than it deserves. I was able to meet a friend from Harvard this evening and prioritized catching up and socializing than being back at a reasonable hour. Apologies for the brevity!
Ethan and I had a busy day walking around London. We started by heading from our hotel to the Imperial War Museum. The collection there is pretty amazing and affecting. Highlights were the Lord Ashcroft Gallery that displayed the medals and stories of those who have won the Victory Cross or the George Cross and the Holocaust exhibit. Both were moving for the extreme bravery and spirit shown by British soldier and by all peoples victimized by the Nazi powers.
After a long visit in the museum, we headed across the Thames and through Westminster again. This time we spotted the Jewel Tower, one of the few medieval buildings from the Palace of Westminster to survive the fire.
We went into St. James's Park, making our way towards Buckingham Palace. We were both surprised to see pelicans swimming in the park lake. They were presents from the Russian ambassador in 1664. This spurred a tradition of giving exotic and unusual waterfowl as diplomatic gifts and this is reflected in the fowl found in St. James's Park.
We walked up to Victoria Memorial at the end of the Mall and just before Buckingham Palace. The massive monument was unveiled in 1911 and completed in 1924. The main features are a statue of Queen Victoria, as Queen Empress, in Carrara marble and a gilded bronze winged Victory standing over the queen.
Although we had missed the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham, we did happen to see a changing of the sentries on duty. It was pretty fascinating to watch the rigid formality of the process. A commander led four replacements out and relieved the sentries two at at time, before leading them back in. All done in perfect unison.
The guards who act as sentries at Buckingham Palace (and as protection to the royal family and residences) are known as the Queen's Guard.
The Queen's Colour was flying over Buckingham Palace, signaling that Queen Elizabeth II is currently in residence at the palace. Were she not there, no flag would fly. It would also affect the number of sentries outside Buckingham.
Using a self timer on my camera, Ethan and I were able to get our first picture together in London, with the Victoria Memorial and Buckingham Palace in the background.
From Buckingham Palace, we walked through Piccadilly Circus and towards Trafalgar Square. We stopped in St. James's Church, Piccadilly. There was a small market of wares outside and a beautiful organ inside. The church also allows homeless people to sleep in some of the pews during the day, which seems a lovely continuation of Christian charity.
We ended our busy day in the National Portrait Gallery. Sadly, many of the rooms of the museum were shut due to some sort of construction or something. We're hoping that the closures were just for today and we might be able to revisit and see some of the pieces we missed (especially the Caravaggios).
Here are three personal highlights from what we saw today:
A 15th century depiction of St. George slaying the dragon by Paolo Uccello. I love this image because it reminds me of my childhood and I remember seeing it when I visited London fourteen or fifteen years ago.
The museum had a wonderful collection of paintings by Peter Paul Rubens. The painting below depicts the myth of Samson and Delilah. I love the drama of the men about to come through the door in the top right corner.
Finally, a piece by El Greco, a Greek painter whose career was based in Spain. In seventh grade, I did a research project and presentation on El Greco and have loved his work ever since. The painting shows St. Jerome as a cardinal.
We were unable to see much of the museum and exhaustion in our feet might have sped our exit. We headed out through Trafalgar Square, stopping to look at the large monument dedicated to Admiral Horatio Nelson.
We went back to our hotel and out for a bit of a disappointing dinner. But the night was greatly improved with another drink and dessert. From there we reached the highlight of the day, meeting with a classmate of mine (and fellow classicist) for a drink (or two) and having a lovely evening.
Fun Fact #26: The gun shown in the first picture is a 1914 15-inch gun. Each gun weighs around 100 tons and could shoot a 1,938 pound shell 16.25 miles. Sounds like a pretty terrifying sight.
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